By RICARDO CASTILLO

AMLO and Corral Trade Verbal Punches

On Friday, Sept. 18, Mexican Security Undersecretary Ricardo Mejía Berdeja named eight well-to-do Chihuahua farming families that he accused of “hoarding” 35 million cubic meters of Rio Conchos water, representing a full 12.5 percent of the water that is owed to the  United States.

One person alone, Mejía Berdeja said, is hoarding 4 percent of the total owed to Texas in accordance with a 1944 bilateral treaty.

“This is the reason why (Chihuahua) Governor Javier Corral is showing resistance to complying with the timely delivery of this crucial liquid,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said after Mejía Berdeja presented a document from the National Water Commission (Conagua) signed by Corral himself committing the state to deliver the water.

AMLO also claimed that Corral was closely linked to now-prison intern and former businessman Carlos Cuevas, accused of being linked to organized criminals in the northern Mexican state, as well as fuel theft and the alleged murder of two of his own bodyguards.

By Monday, Sept. 21, several Mexico City papers had published an interview with Corral, who was furious with the president.

Although he did not specifically defend the named families, Corral questioned the report presented by Mejía Berdejo, claiming it was “a manipulation of information.”

Corral, who since said that he would comply on time with the water payment, stated in a print interview: “The first thing we have to lament is the tragedy in Mexico. To have gone from a corrupt and corrupting president, as was the case with (Enrique) Peña Nieto, to a president who sows hatred and manipulates the truth, that being López Obrador.”

Corral also emphatically denied links to Carlos Cuevas.

On a separate issue, Mejía Berdeja, who advices on Mexico’s National Guard coordination, said he was preparing the folders of 14 federal vandalism suits against the occupiers of La Boquilla reservoir – which houses the water in question – since they destroyed all of the electronic equipment for the operation of the dam’s gate.

The protestors continue to control the gate, and it is now expected that Corral, who turned a blind eye when the protestors first invaded the dam’s premises, will demand that they return the facility to the National Guard, since it remains a federally owned and controlled resource.

On Friday, Sept. 25, AMLO noted that other states — specifically, Coahuila and Tamaulipas — had already delivered their water quota, while an “irresponsible” Corral had only delivered 50 percent of the Conchos River quota.

“Instead of complying with the treaty with the United States, Governor Corral refused to do so, which is at the source of the tensions,” AMLO said. 

“Why has he assumed that attitude? Because there are state elections for governor next year. It’s all a sheer electioneering tactic.”

Missing Normal School Students

The parents of the 43 students who disappeared on Sept. 26 and Sept. 27, 2014, in Iguala, Guerrero, went to the National Palace to hear AMLO announce the one issue that previous investigations had denied: the alleged collusion of 24 soldiers who belonged to the local Iguala Army Garrison.

“Arrest warrants have been issued against the military,” the president said.

“We shall have zero impunity, and those soldiers who participated in the commission of the crime will be tried.”

He went on to describe the still-unresolved Ayotzinapa case of the missing students as “a major injustice by the Mexican State.”

He apologized to the parents in the name of Mexico and vowed that “the truth will be known, no matter how harsh it may be.”

Judge Nixes Referendum

After a through review of the case, Mexican Supreme Court Judge Luis María Aguilar Morales proposed to the rest of the court that they consider “unconstitutional” the public consultation referendum proposed by AMLO to bring former Mexican presidents to trial on alleged charges of corruption.

Aguilar Morales, a conservative appointed to the chair in 2008 by former President Felipe Calderón, said that such a consultation Referendum as proposed by the president does not comply with the framework established in Mexican Constitutional Article 35, and it is violated the respect of human rights.

AMLO immediately reacted to the judge’s recommendation, accusing Aguilar Morales of “fearmongering” among the other eight judges that make up the court, who in the end will have the final say.

The 43-page interpretation by Aguilar Morales has already been submitted for review by the other judges, and will be discussed in full and voted on Thursday Oct. 1.

Interest Rate Drops

The Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) announced on Thursday, Sept. 24, that it was dropping the general interest rate from 4.50 to 4.25 percent.

The move is aimed at preventing inflation from getting out of hand, as Banxico reported that inflation moved from 3.62 percent in July up to 4.10 percent in mid-September.

Banxico still has its objective the lowering of inflation to 3 percent by the end of the year.

…Sept. 28, 2020